In 1855 Anastasia Burke, a 27 year old woman from Callan, County Kilkenny, Ireland, migrated to Adelaide, South Australia. For many post-Famine Irish emigrants there was no guarantee of a welcome in the host country and the following year, the South Australian government launched an enquiry into the influx of single Irishwomen to its shores.

Anastasia stayed in South Australia for ten years before joining the exodus to the new goldfields in Victoria. Stockyard Creek, a goldfield in South Gippsland, ultimately became her permanent home.
Widowed after a brief marriage to William Thornley, Anastasia was a successful businesswoman who owned several gold mines and blocks of land in South Gippsland and the biggest hotel in town, the Exchange.

Anastasia visited her homeland in 1901 and returned to Victoria to renovate her hotel in palatial style. She was tough and she was a survivor.

This is the story of one remarkable Irish immigrant to nineteenth-century Australia and her never-failing support of Irish causes. Her legacy resonates today in both Callan and Foster (formerly Stockyard Creek).

Includes bibliographical references and index.